School cuts will come in all sizes - Lancasteronline 03/27/2011

School cuts will come in all sizes
Layoffs, fewer teams and supplies, even no mulch. Groups will try to save some things.
Sunday News

Updated Mar 27, 2011 00:44
By GIL SMART, Associate Editor
Nearly all the 300 chairs set up at Martin Meylin Middle School Tuesday night were filled, as residents of the Lampeter-Strasburg School District turned out to hear just how dire the school district's budget situation was.

Many, said district superintendent Dr. Robert Frick, were "aghast" at what they heard.

"We talked about things we don't have to provide, and said that when times get tough, they will have to go away," Frick said. And many of those things are going away.

Middle school junior varsity sports — boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, football and field hockey — will die unless booster clubs step up and agree to pay the coaches' stipends. Paper calendars and newsletters now distributed to district residents may be distributed online only. And in-school suspension rooms will be eliminated; "Now if you're suspended, you're out of school," Frick said. "It becomes the parents' problem, not the school's problem."

The list of programs and services long provided by school districts that will become the parents' problem next year is growing — not just at L-S, but all over the county.

Grappling with major funding shortfalls, virtually every school district in the county plans significant cuts next year. The Eastern Lancaster County district has already voted to lay off 15 teachers; last week a School District of Lancaster board member said up to 100 teachers could be laid off in the coming years. Classroom sizes will grow; administrative, and in some cases, teacher salaries will be curtailed.

Many of the cuts will be smaller in scope — yet they could have an outsized impact on parents and students, who may feel them immediately.

Districts are talking about eliminating bus trips and charging students who participate in extracurricular activities. Field trips could be eliminated; so could paper calendars and newsletters.

In this new, austere environment, there is likely to be more pressure on parents, parent-teacher organizations and booster clubs to shoulder a greater amount of the financial burden — or see programs eliminated for good.

School officials have spent months talking about the problem, hosting town meetings and sending home letters in an attempt to prepare parents for what's coming. "It is a totally different world out there," Frick said. "The people at our meeting, they get it.

"But I don't think most people get it."

Felt in the fall

They will — though perhaps not until next fall, after budgets for the 2011-12 school year are approved and the cuts kick in.

Besides voting to furlough 15 teachers, a move designed to save $1.31 million, Elanco is also considering raising ticket prices for sporting events, and selling advertising at Garden Spot High School stadium and gymnasium.

Hempfield, where teachers became the first in the county to agree to a pay freeze next year, still faces a $500,000 budget gap, Superintendent Brenda Becker said. The district may start charging a fee for participation in extracurricular activities, though Becker said she's not sure how much it would be. "The board wants to make sure it's not onerous for parents," she said.

Hempfield could also eliminate some bus routes and will begin printing its student planners in-house. "The planners will not be as glossy or attractive, but will be functional," Becker said.

Summertime blues

In Cocalico, summer programs like tennis and instrument lessons will be cut, as will district-funded field trips for clubs. And fees or costs for elective courses could be added or increased, Superintendent Bruce Sensenig said. Students who take the SAT prep course may need to buy the textbook, he said.

In Conestoga Valley, student participation fees for extracurricular activities, already in place, would be raised, late bus runs for sports and detention eliminated, and "Global Connect," the phone system that makes automated calls to parents about school closings, also eliminated.

Kim Seldomridge, CV's business manager, said that at three school district forums on the budget, none of these were cited as concerns by residents. Instead, he said, most worried about the proposal to eliminate the district's bowling, rifle, swimming and golf teams. As a result of the concerns, Seldomridge said, those sports were taken off the chopping block.

Penn Manor will eliminate midday kindergarten transportation next year; money provided to teachers to purchase miscellaneous school supplies will be cut back; floors could be polished less often; and the district will cut back on playground mulch, which won't be replenished every year unless there's a safety issue due to too little mulch, Penn Manor Superintendent Michael Leichliter said.

"We will not make cuts that will put the safety of students at risk," Leichliter said. Penn Manor doesn't want to save a few dollars today, he said, if that will "exponentially increase maintenance issues in three to five years.

"Like the rest of our budget cuts, this means we will be engaged in a constant balancing act," he said.

He's met with athletic booster groups and PTOs, "asking them to take their share of the pain." Teresa Rineer, president of the PTO at Letort Elementary School, said the PTOs at all the district's schools are talking about ways they can work together to save the district money — and maybe, programs.

"Instead of every school having a movie night, maybe we just do one big one, and save money on the movie licenses we have to buy," said Rineer, mother of a middle-schooler and a sixth-grader. "Maybe we don't do three assemblies next year, we do two; maybe we join forces with other school districts, get the same people for assemblies and get discounts."

Already, she said, families have stepped up. Letort Elementary is having a "March Madness" label contest to see which class can collect the most Box Tops For Education and Labels For Education, which generate money for school districts; this year the school has tripled the number of labels it collected last year.

"We don't want our kids going door to door; we need to find creative ways to be helpful," she said.

"If we stay united, we'll be able to make a small dent."

Still, Leichliter, the superintendent, said he suspects the coming austerity will take many parents by surprise.

He said that in the past, when a parent called the school district asking officials to add a bus stop for their child, the district did so almost reflexively. But that can no longer be the case.

"By law, we can ask a student to walk a mile and a half" to a bus stop, he said. Not that the district would necessarily do that, but more stops mean a greater cost; and "I think people are going to be surprised" if they call, ask for a new stop, and the answer is "no," he said.

Unfortunately, he said, this is only the beginning.

"We're making the easy cuts now," he said. "The ones next year and in the following years are going to be tougher.

"The next few years in our schools is going to be a story of shared pain," he said.

Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. Email him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.

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